Welt-slitting machine.



C. C. BLAKE.

WELT SLITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.23,1915.

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CHARLES C. BLAKE, OF BBOOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 C. C. BLAKE, INCORPORATED, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

WELT-SLITTING MACHINE.

actate.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28, 11918..

Application filed September 23, 1915. Serial No. 52,179.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHAnLns G. BLAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in VVelt-Slitting Machines, of which the following is a speciiication.

The present invention relates to welt slitting machines and more particularly to a machine for slitting the welt used in the manufacture of the welt shoe devised by me.

In the type of welt shoes hereinbefore referred to the inseam stitches are laid in a slit formed longitudinally along that side edge of the welt which is exposed in the I arrangements of parts fully set'forth hereinafter, the advantages of which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

The various features of the present invention will be readily understood from an inspection of the accompanying drawing illustrating the best form of the invention at present known to the inventor, in which,

The figure is a side elevation of the welt slitting machine.

In the illustrated embodiment of the in vention the welt is inserted into a guide 1 which closely fits the four sides of the welt. The welt is fedthrough the guide 1 by feed rolls 2 and 3 which operate through openings formed in the welt guide. The rolls 2 and 3 have respectively, smooth and milled peripheries. The smooth roll 2 engages the top'face of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe and the milled roll 3 engages the bottom face of the welt which is covered by the outsole in the finished shoe.

The roll 2 is mounted upon the upper end of a vertical shaft 1 provided with a gear 5 which meshes with a gear 6 on a second vertical shaft 7. The shaft 7 is driven froma power shaft 8, which rotates in the direction. of the arrow, through a worm 9 on the shaft 8 which meshes with a worm wheel 10 on the shaft 7. The roll 3 is carried upon the upper end of a vertical shaft 11 which is driven from the shaft 41 by a gear 12 on the shaft 11 which meshes with the gear 5 on the shaft 4.

In order to facilitate the ready insertion of the welt into the guide 1 the roll 3 constructed to be withdrawn from the operating point. To this end the shaft 1-1 is carried in a bearing 13 pivoted at 1 1 on the machine frame. The bearing 13 is normally pressed upon by a spring 15 which is interposed between the bearing 13 and a spring chamber 16 carried by the machine frame. the movement of the bearing 13 under the influence of the spring 15 is limited by a stop 17 on the bearing arranged to engage a lug 18 on the machine frame. The roll. 3 is withdrawn from the operating point by pressure applied to a hub 19 on the roll 3.

The welt is slit by a disk cutter 20, on the shaft 8, which is arranged to operate through a slot in the guide 1. From an inspection of the drawing it will be apparent that the direction of travel of the cutter at the operating point is opposite the direction of the feed of the welt.

was in the same direction as the feed of the welt there would be a tendency for the cutter, owing to its high speed, to pull. the welt away from the feed rolls which would stretch the welt in the guide and cause the slit in the welt to be formed at varying tween the top and bottom faces of the welt. By rotating the cutter so that its direction of travel at the operating point is opposite the direction of the feed of the welt the feeding of the welt through the welt guide by the feed rolls is resisted by the cutter thus causing the welt to be crowded in the welt guide and consequently insuring the formation of a uniform slit along the edge of the welt.

In order to welt in starting the machine the gear 6 is loosely mounted on the shaft 7 and is provided with a clutch member 21 arranged to be clutched to a clutch member 22 which. is splined on the shaft 7. The clutch member 22 is shifted to unclutch the gear 6 from the If the direction of,

distances bepermit the hand feeding of the 1 shaft 7 by an operating handle 23 which is After the gear 6 is unclutched'from the V shaft 7 the feed rolls 2 and 3 are driven from a handwheel27 secured to a horizontal shaft 28 which is provided with a'bevel gear 29 meshing with a similar gear 30 on the shaft 4.

v To operate the machine the shaft 8 is rotated from some suitable source of power and the handle 23 is operated to unclutch the gear 6 from the shaft The roll 3 is then withdrawn to facilitate the insertion of one end of the long length of welting into the guide 1. The roll 3 is then release-d and the hand wheel 27 is operated by the operative to feed the welt to the cutter 20. The gear 6 is then clutched to the shaft 7 to operate the feed rolls 2 and 3 from the power shaft 8. Sometimes the welt will stick during the power feed due to irregularities in the stock. When this happens the power feed may be disconnected and the hand wheel 27v again manipulated to feed the irregular portion of the welt past the cutter when the power feed may be resumed.

It will be clear to those skilled in this class of machines, and with the general objects of the present invention in view, that changes may be made in the details of structure the described and illustrated embodiment thereof being intended as an exploitation of its underlying essentials the features. whereof are definitely stated in their true scope in the claims hereto appended.

What is claimed as new, is

1. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, a welt guide engaging the top, bottom and edge faces of the welt, means for feeding the welt through the guide, and means for forming alongitudinal slit in the face of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe, substantially as described.

2. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, a welt guide engaging the top, bottom and edge faces of the welt, means for feeding the welt through the guide, and a rotary cutter for slitting the face of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe having its direction of travel at the operating point opposite in direction to the feed of the welt, substantially as described.

3. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, a welt guide engaging the top, bottom and edge faces of the welt, feed rolls for feeding the welt through the guide, and a disk cutter for slitting the face of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe, having its direction of travel at the operating point opposite indirection to the feed of the welt, substantially as described.

A. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, a welt guide engaging the top, bottom and edge faces of the welt, means for feeding the wcltthrough the guide, and a cutter for simultaneously slitting the welt in the guide and resisting the passage of the welt through the guide, substantially as described.

5. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, a welt guide engaging the top, bottom and edge faces of the welt, feed rolls for feeding the welt through the guide, and a disk cutter for slitting the welt and resisting the passage of the welt through the guide, substantially as described.

6. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, feed rolls for feeding the welt through the machine and a knife for forming a longitudinal slit in the welt, a power drive therefor, means for disconnecting the feed rolls from the power drive, a hand wheel, and connections for driving the feed rolls from the hand wheel, substantially as described.

7. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, means for feeding the welt, and means for forming a longitudinal slit in the edge of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe, substantially as described.

8. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, supporting and guiding means for the top and bottom faces and opposite sides of a strip of welting, and a slitting knife for forming a slit in the edge of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe, substantially as described.

9. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, a welt'guide engaging the top and bottom faces and opposite sides of a strip of welting, and a slitting knife for forming a longitudinal slit in the edge of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe as the welting is drawn through the guide, substantially as described.

10. A welt slitting machine, having, in combination, a knife for forming a longitudinal slit in the edge face of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe, means for supporting the other face of the welt which is exposed in the finished shoe, and a spring pressed device for engaging the face of the welt opposite'the last named face.

CHARLES C. BLAKE.

h Copies of patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

